AS DENMARK HEADS THE LIST, JAMAICA’S RATE OF HAPPINESS HAS FALLEN!

As the globe prepares to celebrate UN World Happiness Day on Sunday, it appears that Jamaicans have seen their own rate of happiness decline sharply between 2007 and 2015, according to the most recent World Happiness Report released earlier this week.

The World Happiness Report 2016 Update surveys the state of global happiness and ranks 157 countries by their happiness level, by examining elements such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, perceived corruption and generosity.

 Jamaica had the 12th largest rate of decline in happiness among the countries in the report – one position worse than Cyprus, and one better than Rwanda. But at the same time, the statistical level of confidence could push Jamaica deep into the ranks of the bottom 10 at its most extreme. As a result, the comments that the report made about the bottom 10 countries, could equally apply to Jamaica.

“For each of the 10 countries with the biggest drops in average life evaluations, the losses were more than would be expected from a halving of GDP per capita. Thus, the changes are far more than would be expected from income losses or gains flowing from macroeconomic changes, even in the wake of an economic crisis as large as that following 2007,” the report said.

“The 10 countries with the largest declines in average live evaluations typically suffered some combination of economic, political and social stresses,” the report stated.

“Three of the countries (Greece, Italy and Spain) were among the four hard-hit eurozone countries whose post-crisis experience was analysed in detail in

World Happiness Report 2013. A series of recent annual declines has now pushed Ukraine into the group of 10 largest declines, joining India, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Botswana” the report states.

Greece experienced the largest rate of decline in happiness.

Jamaica’s actual rate of happiness for the 2013-2015 period placed it at 73, between the northern European country of Estonia at 72 and the southern European country of Croatia at 74 and Hong Kong at 75.

Regionally, Jamaica was happier than the Dominican Republic at 89, Honduras at 104 and Haiti at 136, but was less happy than Costa Rica (14), Puerto Rico (15), Panama (25), Suriname (40) Trinidad and Tobago (43) Venezuela (44) and Belize (52).

Top of the list as the happiest country was Denmark, while bottom was the central African republic of Burundi. At positions 78 and 79 Turkey and Indonesia were the countries in the middle of the list of 157 countries.